The Heidelberg Project aims to inspire people to use artistic expression to enrich and improve their lives and simultaneously to beautify and preserve the community in which they live and work. Initiated almost single-handedly by artist Tyree Guyton, this open air art project is located in an endangered inner-city neighborhood in East Detroit. The project includes a variety of art works, three art education programs, and space for a visiting artist. Despite partial demolition by the City on two occasions, the rebuilt Heidelberg Project is now an award-winning and frequently visited site in Detroit, attracting a diverse group of visitors from around the world. The Committee cited the Heidelberg Project as a symbol of hope in the face of the despair that often diminishes blighted communities. This project demonstrates the impact one inspired artist can have on an entire city and casts a new vision of urban space. Committee members noted the transformative power of this art, which punctuates the urban landscape with an element of surprise and offers an innovative model for transforming urban abandonment and shrinking cities.